Keep calling.
Quoting one agency employee, “The SQUEAKY WHEEL GETS THE GREASE”. This means that when agencies don’t have enough money or time for everyone, they are often more likely to help those communities that keep contacting them for help. You also let them know you are dedicated and reliable which helps with getting discretionary funding.

Talk with your community.
Granting agencies tend to favor those villages who have the full support of the community. See if you can get letters of support from local community groups, like the school board. Consider forming a community group to look at ways to improve your SWM situation. Get them to write a letter of support, or apply for community environmental education grants.

Talk with other villages.
You may be able to find out really useful ways to stretch your money, or get funding from a different source. Also, agencies tend to favor projects where two or more villages cooperate with each other. Is there some way you can work with neighboring villages on your SWM goals?

Talk with local governments.
Agencies also tend to favor projects where different governments and citizen groups cooperate. Is there some way you can work with your city, tribal corporation, and/or borough?

Consider small steps.
You may not be able to fund your planning, site closure, and set-up of a new waste disposal system all at once. It is often much easier to get smaller grants, so don’t ignore them. For example, Noorvik received $20,000 from the BIA to do some interim site cleanup and risk reduction steps. Additionally, agencies often have discretionary money at the end of year they can spend how they like. A simple, straightforward, and small project such as carrying out a waste assessment, sampling for soil and water contamination, constructing a burnbox, or setting up a used oil burner may have a good chance of being funded.

Finally, agencies often tend to fund villages that are receiving grants from several different groups. They believe if lots of people are contributing to a single project, there is more likelihood it will be successful. Several small grants from different agencies may bring in a much larger grant.

Smile for the Camera!
Some villages have received funding by publicizing how bad their site is. If you don’t get agency folks out to your village, they may not realize just how bad your situation is. After waiting too long for funding to relocate their badly eroding beach dump, the village of Newtok made a videotape of their dump and sent it to some State agency folks. The state folks were real surprised at the condition—and Newtok received $70,000 to move their dump.

The same goes for federal agency folks in Washington DC. They are used to dealing with sanitary facilities on reservations in the lower-48 and the open dump situation in Indian Country there has gotten a lot better. The Village of Selawik convinced some Washington folks who were attending a conference in Kotzebue to visit the Selawik dump site. And boy, were those folks surprised at what Selawik residents had to deal with!

So get out that camera, or borrow a video camera from an agency or native advocacy group—pictures can tell a story that words can’t.

Integrate your planning and funding.
Figure out if there are ways to fund part of your SWM project with money from non-SWM grants. For example, you might be able to build a road to the landfill by including it in a construction project. Through another construction project, you might be able also to buy or rent heavy equipment for closing your site or operating your new landfill. Or you may be able to use the heavy equipment you get through SWM money and reduce your funding request for a construction project. Look at what you new disposal method does for your village infrastructure, too. For example, building a transfer station for shipping out wastes can improve your port facilities.

Click on the box below to find out “What to consider in an integrated SWM plan”

Click on the sun below to learn about “Factors in planning for site closure and a new waste disposal facility”